Prince Estate: Paisley Park to open for daily paid public tours in fall

Paisley Park, the private studio complex and home of the late pop icon Prince will open for public tours. Starting in October, the company that oversees Elvis Presley's Graceland will manage daily public tours.
USA TODAY

Paisley Park, the home and studio of Prince, in Chanhassen, Minn., on April 22, 2016.(Photo11: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

Prince’s creative oasis, his Paisley Park compound outside Minneapolis, will be turned into a museum and opened for daily public tours in October, the administrator of the icon’s estate announced Wednesday.

Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson, said in a statement that this was always her brother’s goal. In fact, it was one of the first things she and her husband said publicly after Prince’s April 21 death from a drug overdose in an elevator at Paisley Park.

“Opening Paisley Park is something that Prince always wanted to do and was actively working on," Tyka Nelson said in the press release issued by Bremer Trust, the special administrator of Prince’s still-unresolved estate.

"Only a few hundred people have had the rare opportunity to tour the estate during his lifetime," Nelson said. "Now fans from around the world will be able to experience Prince's world for the first time, as we open the doors to this incredible place."

"The new Paisley Park museum will offer fans a unique experience, an exhibition like no other, as Prince would have wanted it," according to the official statement by Prince's siblings (his heirs include five half-siblings besides his full sister, Tyka).

"Most important, the museum will display Prince's genius, honor his legacy, and carry forward his strong sense of family and community."

Prince in February 1985.(Photo11: Liu Heung Shing, AP)

Tickets are set to go on sale Friday at 2 p.m. CT for tours starting Oct. 6 at OfficialPaisleyPark.com. No ticket price is available.

Under the plans for the museum, to be reviewed by the city of Chanhassen, Minn., guided tours will take visitors throughout the main floor of the 65,000-square-foot mansion, including the studios where Prince recorded, produced and mixed most of his biggest hits.

The tours will include Prince's video editing suites, rehearsal rooms, private NPG Music Club, and a massive soundstage and concert hall where he rehearsed for tours and held private events and concerts. Visitors also will see thousands of artifacts from Prince's personal archives, including his concert wardrobe, awards, musical instruments, artwork, rare music and video recordings, concert memorabilia, automobiles and motorcycles.

"The Estate is working with the family to form an advisory council who will provide valuable input on the entire experience," said Bremer Trust President Craig Ordal in a statement.

Chanhassen Mayor Denny Laufenburger tweeted his own statement, saying he believes the plans are in full accordance with Prince's wishes and that the star's vision for Paisley Park as a museum was in place even before his death. "He knew exactly how to showcase his production studio for his fans in preparation for this eventual outcome," Laufenburger said.

Bremer touted the museum as an unprecedented opportunity for fans to “experience first-hand what it was like for Prince to create, produce and perform inside this private sanctuary and remarkable production complex, which is also considered one of the greatest landmarks in the entertainment industry.”

Bremer's plans call for tapping "the operational expertise of an experienced property management team, which will also provide initial funding for capital improvements. The Estate will maintain ownership of the property." Bremer said the media spokesman for the project will be the same company that handles national media for Elvis Presley's Graceland.

It suggests Bremer and Prince's family are seeking to make the Paisley Park museum somewhat in the image of Graceland, which opened in 1982, five years after Presley died, and now draws more than 500,000 visitors a year. The total economic impact on the city of Memphis from Graceland visitors is estimated to be $150 million a year.

Bremer Trust has been focused on sorting out Prince's multi-million-dollar estate (no will was found), trying to determine who besides his siblings are his heirs. It is trying to sell some property, such as Prince's Caribbean villa, to generate cash to pay hefty estate tax bills that are coming due in January. And the estate has hired consultants in the music industry to help decide what to do with Prince's musical catalog and any tapes of unreleased music.

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Prince, seen here at the Super Bowl in Miami in 2007, was found dead at Paisley Park compound on April 21, 2016. Since then, the public has gotten to know some of his potential heirs, the doctors who treated him or planned to, some of the lawyers involved in settling his estate, and the police investigating his death. Chris O'Meara, AP

Carver County Attorney Mark Metz, right, announced April 19, 2018 that no criminal charges will be filed in the 2016 death of Prince, effectively ending the state's two-year investigation into how Prince got the fentanyl that killed him. On the left are Chief Deputy Sheriff Jason Kamerud and Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson, who led the police investigation. Glen Stubbe, Minneapolis Star Tribune via AP

Prince, center, enters a clinic of Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg on April 20, 2016, the day before he was found dead of an accidental fentanyl overdose. Image made from surveillance video provided by the Carver County Sheriff's Office as part of investigation into Prince's death. AP

Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, a local specialist in obstetrics, who treated Prince before his death. He subsequently agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil claim for knowingly writing prescriptions for Prince in someone else's name, although he insisted he did nothing wrong. AP

Prince, center, and his band The New Power Generation in 1996: Rhonda Smith, left, Kirk Johnson, Morris Hayes and Kathleen Dyson. Johnson, one of Prince's oldest friends, was working as a manager of Paisley Park when Prince was found dead, and grew so concerned about his health in his last days that he took the singer to his own doctor, Michael Todd Schulenberg. Johnson's name was on some of the prescriptions Prince was taking. EMI RECORDS

Tyka Nelson, Prince's only full sibling, who set in motion the probate case over his estate. She and her attorneys leave Carver County courthouse after the first hearing on the musician's estate on May 2, 2016 in Chaska, Minn. Adam Bettcher, Getty Images

Sheila E., left, a former girlfriend of Prince and a band member, and Mayte Garcia, one of Prince's former wives, on stage following a performance in tribute to Prince at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 26, 2016, in Los Angeles. Matt Sayles, Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson (L) and Chief Deputy Jason Kamerud (R) led the investigation into Prince's death. They spoke to reporters in Chaska, Minn., on April 22, the day after Prince was found dead. CRAIG LASSIG, EPA

The booking photo of Carlin Q. Williams, a federal prison inmate serving time on a weapons charge, claimed to be Prince's son, the product of a one-night stand at a hotel in July 1976. His was one of dozens of dubious claims to Prince's estate subsequently dismissed. AP

Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a specialist in addiction treatment and pain management, in August 2008 in his Mill Valley, Calif., office. He was called by Prince's staff to help treat him the day before he died. Liz Hafalia, AP